Music brings comfort and consolation, especially in a busy season. What role does music play in our lives and in our celebrations? We’ll have special holiday music, including both serious and playful music from the choir, as well as an instrumental piece, in addition to thoughtful reflection. Chris Bailey convenes this morning’s service.

As the holidays approach, we consider our life choices. How do we give of ourselves, versus giving “stuff?” How do we search for true connection — with our families, our communities, our universe, ourselves, even the Holy — instead of the false promises of the latest gadgets? Katie Kingery-Page convenes this morning’s service.

Today’s service “Your Stories of Gratitude” coincides with the Thanksgiving holiday. Popular culture encourages us to focus upon feelings of gratitude as a panacea for discontent. But how do we move past the serious upheavals of life to find a meaningful practice of gratitude? We hear fellow members reflect upon surprising experiences of gratitude. Katie Kingery-Page and Dick Beeman convene this morning’s service.

What lessons did we learn from the traditional Thanksgiving story? How do we reconfigure the story? How do we acknowledge our part in the pain of others? How do we maintain gratitude in the face of complexity? Michaela Sievers convenes this morning’s service.

How did we come to be in this place? Each of us has a story, uniquely our own. We come together and forge a new story, one that we share. We hear some of the stories of our fellowship and consider how our stories always rewrite themselves. Elke Lorenz convenes this morning’s service.

“The universe is made of stories, not atoms,” said poet Muriel Ruykeyser. The human mind seems made to make sense of things through stories, even more than through reason or emotion. Sometimes stories tell a deeper truth, and other time, they trap us in a plotline we need to free ourselves from. This morning, we explore story from a variety of perspectives. Marisa Larson convenes this morning’s service.

Dr. Martin Luther King spoke of the evils of poverty, racism, and militarism. How do those play out in today’s issues here in Kansas? Rabbi Moti Rieber, Executive Director of Kansas Interfaith Action (KFIA), updates and inspires us. Kansas Interfaith Action is a statewide, multi-faith issue-advocacy organization that puts faith into action. Rev. Jonalue Johnstone convenes this morning’s service.

Wounds from campaigns have opened in the fabric of our national covenant. It is personal struggles that create the political issues that divide and challenge us. How can the wounds be healed? Jessica Sievers convenes this morning’s service.

David Carter, minister of the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Wichita, is a familiar visitor to our Fellowship. Reverend Carter grew up in Brooklyn, New York, and has made his home in Kansas for the last fifteen years, first in Winfield, with the last decade in Wichita. He comments on this morning’s reflection: “Populist” politicians continue to have a disturbingly large “fan base.” Is that portion of the American electorate simply blind to repeated travesties of decency and civil behavior, or is there something deeper and more insidious at work? Why and how is it that so many American voters are willing to support a candidate blatantly antagonistic to the core values of democracy? Dave Lambert convenes this morning’s service.